I got up in the middle of the night and drove to central Kansas to go quail hunting. Maybe past central Kansas. I started hunting between Russel and Hays. I’ve never hunted in this part of Kansas before and it was a new experience. I need at least a tree or I can’t see anyplace to go. That caused me to drive by several spots. This area has lots of walk-in properties.
Sally
Luke
Waiting for it to get light the second morning.
The first place I stopped was a big soy bean field that had been harvested. It was strange in the fact the farmer had left CRP type grasses to grow between strips of soy beans. I’ve only seen this when it’s planted for food plots but that’s the way it was. I turned Luke, Sally and Roxie loose. Roxie is a pointer that belongs to Vince Dye. Vince is having some medical problems so I’m using her. I have 3 Garmin e-collars and 4 Garmin GPS collars so I know where everyone is at all times.
The wind was pretty strong from the south so I parked on the north side and we went into the wind. (I only thought it was strong. Tuesday, the wind showed me what strong wind was.) About a half mile to the south Sally got birdy and the other two dogs came in and started trailing. All 3 dogs pointed then moved on. Pretty soon a hen pheasant flushed, flying to the north with a tail wind.
We got to the end of this place and started back to the north close to the road. All the way down the farmer had left CRP between strips of soy beans. There was a strip of CRP next to the road as we came back. Sally went on point in front of me. When I got to her she started to trail. She would go about 20 yards and go on point. When I would catch up she would start to trail again. After several points and start ups a rooster pheasant flushed. It was too far away for a shot but it was good for Sally.
When we got back to the truck we drove to the other side of the same farm. Low and behold, over a quarter of a mile there were, in a line, probably twenty trees. I understand this kind of hunting. Those 3 dogs hadn’t hunted very much so I put them out, again. When we got to the line of trees I saw 2 quail flying back to the north. Roxie was behind them. As they went through the edge of some CRP about 15 more quail joined them and flew north. I had one close enough to shoot at and it dropped at my shot. It hit the ground and bounced right back up. I watched it fly toward a snag of a tree and go down again.
One of the reasons that I didn’t shoot at the bird again I was watching the covey down. I saw right where they landed. I got the dogs in to hunt for my dead bird. None of them acted the least bit birdy. We spent about 15 minutes looking without finding the dead bird.
I took the dogs to where the covey had spread out. All 3 dogs went through the area. Nobody even got birdy. We worked it all the way back to where the dead bird was and I got them to hunt for it again. Nothing. We went back through the area where the singles had landed. Not a dog got birdy.
Since we were close to the truck I took Luke back and got Dolly out. I just knew she would find my dead bird. I worked her through the field where the covey had spread out. Nothing. I took her down to where the dead bird was. Nothing. We went on to the south and this was when I realized that, where the covey had originally flushed from, was some real short soy beans that hadn’t been harvested. They probably won’t be harvested. I took the dogs on around this field.
We went all the way around it without finding any other birds. We came back through where the covey had landed. I worked the dogs into the wind. I looked and Dolly was on point. When I walked in the quail was right under her nose. When the quail flushed it tried to hook around me. Sally saw it fall and picked it up. She just held it until I told her to give.
Luke pointing a quail.
We went back and forth through that area but never came up with any others. I loaded the dogs and started looking for another place.
The next place I turned the dogs out was near a harvested corn field with a creek running along side. I turned Luke, Sally and Roxie out with the e-collars and GPS collars on. It had looked good from the road but after I got into the property I saw that it had been grazed until there was very little cover left. I got the dogs into the creek, made a circle back to the truck and loaded the dogs.
As I drove around I saw some guys from Ohio I think they said. I talked to them a while and they said they had been hunting for several days. I drove some more looking for a place to hunt and came by the property where I had talked to the Ohioans. They were gone so I turned Luke, Sally and Roxie out.
Across the road was a huge field of milo that was walk-in but it had very little cover. On the side I parked was CRP and next to the walk-in was more milo. We still had a real strong south wind that we were working into. A couple hundred yards from the truck Luke went on point. He was about 50 yards from me in the CRP. As I started to him he moved about 30 yards and went back on point. I got within about 20 yards of him and the quail started flushing behind me. In the wind it was hard to figure out where they were. By the time I saw them they were too far to shoot at although I shot, once.
Luke pointing Sally honoring.
I watched about 6 quail light around a little scrub tree beside the milo field but still on the walk-in. I started to them. I looked for the dogs and saw Sally on point right where the covey had flushed from. I thought she was pointing a hot spot but walked to her anyway. I don’t know why I was surprised (she has the nose) but a single quail flushed. It surprised me and I missed with the first shot but hit it with the second. Sally and Luke made a couple of passes to find the bird then tried to leave. I called Sally back and she picked the dead bird up. She has me trained, she picks up the bird , I walk to her and say give. She drops the bird.
I got all 3 dogs in around the little scrub of a tree but they didn’t even act birdy. I worked them in a semi circle in the CRP around the tree. Nothing. We went on to the south along the milo then it changed to wheat stubble. We moved over about a hundred yards and went back toward the truck. When we got close to the little scrub tree I went toward it through the CRP. Nothing. We went back out into the CRP and the dogs did start getting a little birdy back closer to the road but we never came up with anything.
We crossed the road and checked out what little cover was there without seeing anything. I was just a couple of hours from Greensburg and I had found 10 coveys in 3 days down there before the season opened so I decided to go on down there.
By the time I fed the dogs, ate supper, found a motel and got in bed it was after ten o’clock which is late for me when I’m on a quail hunting trip. But tomorrow will be a better day.
Sally honoring.
Luke pointing quail.
Luke pointing a hen pheasant.